Gifted and talented students are those students who have great ability in intellect, leadership, creative, or artistic. These students should be provided services if those ordinarily provided do not allow them to reach their potential. The services provided to these students differ greatly from state to state. There are large public schools whose Gifted and Talented programs vary from extensive special education during school hours to extra classes after school to non-existent. Many ongoing projects exist to gain better understanding of and resources for gifted and talented students.
Gifted and talented students are those described as those who show either great potential or great talent in comparison to other individuals of the same age, experience, or environment. There are several key characteristics or signs of gifted children given by the National Society for the Gifted and Talented. Gifted students are often perfectionists and idealistic. Gifted students may experience heightened sensitivity to their own expectations and those of others. They are sometimes also asynchronous. Some gifted students are “mappers” while other are “leapers” or spatial learners. It is not uncommon that gifted students may be so far ahead of their age group that they know half the curriculum before the school year begins. These exceptional students are often labeled as “problem solvers” and can think abstractly and with such complexity that they may need help with concrete study and test taking skills. One must be careful when these students define success as getting an “A” and failure as anything less (Renzulli 2009).
There are many aspects in which students can excel in order to gain the gifted or talented status. The categories that encompass these aspects would be intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership capability, and other (http://www.nagc.org 2009). Perhaps some of the most obvious qualities of gifted or talented students would fall under the intellectual category. A student who is considered gifted in general intellectual ability possesses the ability to formulate abstractions and process information in complex ways. The students with the aforementioned intellectual ability are often very observant and get excited about new ideas as well as enjoying hypothesizing. Learning very rapidly, these students use a large vocabulary and initiate many projects on their own. It is often observed that these students are unusually inquisitive (Renzulli 2009). Specific Academic Ability is a sub-set of the intellectual group of the gifted students. They demonstrate outstanding memorization ability, advanced comprehension, and high academic success in special interest area. These students acquire basic skill knowledge quickly and are typically widely read in special interest area while pursuing their special interests with enthusiasm and vigor (Renzulli 2009).
Students that show promise or talent in creativity are also among those admitted to gifted programs. Those creative students excel in independent thinking, and they often “exhibit original thinking in oral and written expression,” (NSGT 2009). The creative thinkers are capable of coming up with multiple solutions to a problem while maintaining a sense of humor. These gifted students enjoy inventing and being challenged by creative tasks as well as improvising to circumvent the conventional solution to the problem. A fortunate characteristic of some of these creative students is that they do “not mind being different from the crowd,” (NSGT 2009).
A more uncommon group of gifted students are those categorized as ones possessing great leadership capabilities. These individuals are quick to assume both a responsibility as well as high expectations for themselves and others. The gifted students said to be outstanding in leadership generally have very high charismas. They tend to be quite capable in foreseeing consequences and implications of their decisions which lead to good judgments. The leaders are very self-confident and organized (NSGT 2009).
On a very different trend of gifted and talented students, the psychomotor students exist. These students are those that “exhibit precision in movement” (Renzulli 2009), and are pleasantly challenged by difficult physical activities though they do enjoy a variety of the aforementioned activities. The psychomotor students do exceedingly well in many motor skills that require coordination. Additionally, they display “good manipulative skills… [and] high energy level,” (Renzulli 2009).
The last groups of gifted and talented students are encompassed by an artistic nature. They possess an uncanny ability to sense special relationships and can use that ability to express themselves, feelings, moods, etc. Similarly to the psychomotor students, the artistic ones can demonstrate exceptional motor coordination. As the name of this group grants, the individuals show very much expression in a creative manner in an attempt to make something original. The last generality made about this group is held in common with the students possessing a large amount of general intellectual ability, and that is that they are observant (NSGT 2009).
Schools across the country provide very different resources for gifted and talented students. The San Francisco school district, for example, only offers after school college courses for its Gifted and Talented Program instead of providing the gifted students with help inside the regular school hours (http://portal.sfusd.edu 2009). In New York City, however, the gifted students are being provided with treatment more characteristic of a special education department. They provide individualized services for the gifted students that forces even the brightest students to their capabilities (http://schools.nyc.gov 2009). In Wisconsin, however, there are large schools that provide no exceptional treatment for those lacking an appropriate education. “In Waterford, the high school just gave us the option of a few AP classes that were easy. There wasn’t any sort of program that really challenged us,” (Shea 2009). The disparity among large public schools in America is quite large and speaks to the necessity for positive change.
New studies are consistently being done over the subject of gifted and talented students. There is a current program by the name of Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program. This program’s description is as follows: The purpose of this program is to carry out a coordinated program of scientifically based research, demonstration projects, innovative strategies, and similar activities designed to build and enhance the ability of elementary and secondary schools to meet the special education needs of gifted and talented students. The major emphasis of the program is on serving students traditionally underrepresented in gifted and talented programs, particularly economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient (LEP), and disabled students, to help reduce the serious gap in achievement among certain groups of students at the highest levels of achievement. (Javits 2009)
With work, this program will develop successful methods to educate the gifted students to their potential. It is also hopeful that they will train professionals to efficaciously teach many other such students. A program such as this one will provide the opportunity to test innovative techniques as well as assistance on how teachers can best serve the gifted students. It will also provide an example of coursework gifted students can be expected to complete. Gifted programs, as with every special education program have great potential to contribute to the growth of the world and human experience.
Clifford Heyer Ed. 226 Mr. Ramsey Benedictine College Gifted and Talented: Consistently Inconsistent The amount of free time possessed by the interviewed Gifted and Talented students varies far more than most students. One respondent said, “I spend my day in a small classroom with twelve others. My parents make me to extra work, but that is acceptable because I’m going to become rich. I spend as much time as possible by myself. Emotions are annoying.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4b,c,j). Another respondent admitted, “I have a lot of free time because I get my work done faster than anyone else can. It gives me the free time to enjoy productive, complicated pastimes, like building and moding computers or writing cool programs.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1a,b,e). Another interviewed student claimed to have little free time saying, “I love making music and that love has led me to participate in many pastimes after school. It keeps me very busy.” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2a,b,c). The three very different students offer varying testaments to the time they have to themselves. A mother had these things to say about her son when asked about their free time, “My son likes to do things on his own. He jumps around to a lot of different hobbies, wanting to try everything he can. Driving him around to all his activities and attending all his events takes a lot of time. He’s very active in his school. I don’t spend much time helping him with his homework, but he does like me to look over what he’s done at night to see what I think.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3b,c,d,e,f,g,k).
The mother, while sounding fatigued, seemed very happy that her son was so busy. A teacher of Gifted and Talented students had this insight to offer, “I try to give my students a lot of freedom. I am trying a new method now where I devote an entire day to a subject and the students are free to work on and research whatever they like in that subject area. They really enjoy this method. It allows my students to work on stimulating in depth projects and difficult problems that require more time. They work harder and learn more when I let them study what they enjoy. They are also free to go to the library almost any time of the day.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5a,b,c,d,h). It seems that every one of these students greatly values any freedom, especially that of time, that they are given. Many of the students love being gifted and bristle with pride when talking about it. There are those, however, who are of the opposite opinion. It may seem unusual that students would hate being gifted, but it must be realized that there are a wide range of opinions on being gifted, as there are with most of these students. One respondent said jokingly, “It’s a tough life at the top of Olympus.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1y). On a serious note, he continued, “I’m not sure if I have a chemical imbalance or what in my head that makes me the way I am, but I do feel like I have an obligation because I am quite religious. I want to use my gift for the betterment of humanity.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-04-09/1aa,ab,ac). The mother interviewed has this to say in regards to her perception of how she considered her son to feel about being gifted, “I think he loves it. He’s always bragging to me about being able to do more than other students. He likes being able to read more advanced material.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3x,y,z). Another respondent had this to say when questioned about his feelings on being gifted, “I love being gifted. I feel great about myself! I get to do a lot of fun school work that most other people don’t get to do.” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2n,o). When the teacher was asked what the students thought about being gifted, this explanation was given, “Most of my students love being gifted, but some of them do not. Some parents put an extreme amount of pressure on them because of their children’s extraordinary capabilities. A small number of my students would not care if they were gifted, average, or disabled. Those students think they could accept any lot in life happily.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5y,z,aa). Another respondent initially responded quite negatively when his feelings of being gifted were questioned, “I hate it. My parents make me do so much work, and people never leave me alone. But I love reading and I suppose with an average intellect, I would be incapable of enjoying the books that I do.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4k). The difference in these feelings is as extreme as any other and should be respected. Many assume that gifted individuals have it easier than others not burdened with an overabundance of intellect, but it should be kept in mind that it can be just that: an overwhelming burden. Most of the interviews pointed towards financial impacts being very small compared to most other special education departments. One respondent had only this statement when asked about the financial impacts of being gifted, “While there are no financial impacts directly necessitated by my condition, my pastimes are expensive, and most people my age wouldn’t be able to do what I do.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1g,h). The mother interviewed had slightly more to say, “The government doesn’t seem to favor this department of special education. They don’t give us any extra money, so we have to pay for extra help to get my son to his potential. He has a special tutor come over some evenings, and I have to pay for him. His extra activities cost a lot more money, and I doubt he’d be able to do so many if he weren’t so talented. My son is always wanting me to buy him more books too. Books are expensive, and at the rate he goes through them, the money adds up quick.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3n,j,h,i). Two other respondents mentioned that their families had very little additional expenses from their conditions. The teacher seemed to be of the same opinion as the mother about the money Gifted and Talented programs received, “Gifted and Talented programs here don’t get much money from the state or government. It seems that I find myself constantly wishing I had more materials for my students. We require more books and materials than others to give my students the appropriate education that they deserve.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5e,g,f). Of those interviewed, being gifted had differing effects in the relationships of the families, though pride from the parents seemed to be consistent. The teacher offered some generalities in the relationships of the families of her students and the impacts of giftedness on them, “The divorce rate in my classroom seems to be the same as any regular ed. classroom. The parents I talk to generally seem the same as most others with the same problems any other parents have. They generally seem proud of their children, though some give me nothing but grief saying that I don’t let their children reach their potential. The families social relationships could only be hindered or effected by activates the gifted children are in. It’s not that there are things the families can no longer do because of the gifted children, but the families are generally capable of doing more. In regards to the effects on siblings, from what I’ve seen and heard, the parents seem to have higher standards for their other children. Siblings of my students could be affected in many ways. For example, they could be drawn to work more, less, move at their own pace, anger, depression, or pride.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5r,s,t,w,x,p,q). A gifted student had this to say about his family, “My parents are really proud of me, and make me work a lot. My younger brother is three. He gets as much attention as me. My parents like our family to spend a lot of time together. I don’t. I’d greatly prefer to just be alone and read.” (CH/G&T/10-18-09/4h,g,i). The mother that was interviewed said, “His father and I divorced shortly after he was born, before his ability could have had any effect on our marriage, but his dad wasn’t ready for a son and ran halfway across the country. Look how good my son turned out with just me raising him! He has a half sister who was just born in Colorado. They haven’t met yet, but he wants to. I think his intellect helps him handle the situation better. It’s just me and my son, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3r,s,t). Another respondent said, “My parents love me and are really proud of me. They’re very close. I’m an only child, so there’s no effect to be had on my siblings. My mom said that she does not need to watch me as much because I’m so smart and mature!” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2l,k,j,e). The pride the child had of his family undeniably shone through his short and concise statements. One respondent, quite proud of his intellect, responded, “My parents are both proud, even though I can be really lazy at times. I think my giftedness brought them together. I am insurmountably talented at manipulating the emotions of my family. My relationship with my siblings is…interesting. I know better than them a lot of the time. I know that I’m right, they’re wrong, my way is better, but it’s hard, because I respect them, and don’t like showing them exactly why they’re being idiots, but…yeah. Sometimes I do anyway. I piss off my two older brothers a lot.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1s,r,t,q,p). Most of the respondents had little to say about their social relationships and friends. The teacher said, “I do have to keep an eye out for bullies at this age range, but most of my students manage to make a small number, usually one to three, of friends that are very close with each other.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5v). One respondent said, “My parents make us go do things with other families. I spend as much time as I can by myself. Emotions are annoying.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4j,i). The mother had this to say about hers and her son’s friends, “I have a couple friends at work and am friendly with a few of my son’s classmates’ parents, but that’s it. I don’t have much time outside of work and taking care of him and taking him to all his activities. He has a couple close friends though. He has them over on some weeknights and almost every weekend.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3u,v). Another respondent, when asked about his social relationships, only offered, “I sometimes get picked on in school.” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2m). Another respondent admitted, “It’s really hard to make real friends. It’s annoying to talk to people who have absolutely no grasp on what they’re talking about. I have no trouble forming superficial relationships and being friendly. I can associate with any social class perfectly fine. But I can only become true friends with those that I respect.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-04-09/1u,v,w,x). When asked about the IEP process and the relationships with the special education professionals, the interviewees had far more to say about the professionals than the process itself. One respondent said, “My high school didn’t help the gifted and talented much. I just took an IQ test, it said I had an IQ of a hundred fifty-three. I talked with the advisors and teachers, and they just said to take advanced and AP classes. They were all way too easy, so I slept through them all and got all A’s. Man, life was easy then—waste of time easy.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-04-09/1l,m,n,o). Another respondent said, “I took some tests and my parents handled the rest. Now I get to go to a cool class with a nice teacher for part of the day. I can do almost anything there!” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2i,j,d). The mother spoke mostly of her child’s teachers, “They are pretty helpful and love working with my son. They seem really good at what they do, but the teachers only help my son for the first half of the day while they should be helping him the whole day. They do keep me posted on his progress. His teacher now gives me the impression of being both strict and laid back at the same time. I think that’s a really good trait.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3m,o,l,p,q). Another respondent offered this insight on his teacher, “My teacher is highly intelligent and very competent. She respects me and helps me reach my limits.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4e,f). The teacher interviewed seemed to enjoy the company and insight of her colleagues, “I have almost as many students as the regular ed. teachers. All my colleagues are very caring and brilliant. We get along very well and help each other out a lot. Before any of us try something new, we run it by each other to see if we can gain any advice for improvements for the methods.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5i,m,l,j,k). Every Gifted and Talented student I’ve come into contact with has been drastically different. The only generalization that should be made is that generalizing anything about them is a bad idea.
Ed. 226
Mr. Ramsey
10-01-09
Gifted and Talented Students
Gifted and talented students are those students who have great ability in intellect, leadership, creative, or artistic. These students should be provided services if those ordinarily provided do not allow them to reach their potential. The services provided to these students differ greatly from state to state. There are large public schools whose Gifted and Talented programs vary from extensive special education during school hours to extra classes after school to non-existent. Many ongoing projects exist to gain better understanding of and resources for gifted and talented students.
Gifted and talented students are those described as those who show either great potential or great talent in comparison to other individuals of the same age, experience, or environment. There are several key characteristics or signs of gifted children given by the National Society for the Gifted and Talented. Gifted students are often perfectionists and idealistic. Gifted students may experience heightened sensitivity to their own expectations and those of others. They are sometimes also asynchronous. Some gifted students are “mappers” while other are “leapers” or spatial learners. It is not uncommon that gifted students may be so far ahead of their age group that they know half the curriculum before the school year begins. These exceptional students are often labeled as “problem solvers” and can think abstractly and with such complexity that they may need help with concrete study and test taking skills. One must be careful when these students define success as getting an “A” and failure as anything less (Renzulli 2009).
There are many aspects in which students can excel in order to gain the gifted or talented status. The categories that encompass these aspects would be intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership capability, and other (http://www.nagc.org 2009). Perhaps some of the most obvious qualities of gifted or talented students would fall under the intellectual category. A student who is considered gifted in general intellectual ability possesses the ability to formulate abstractions and process information in complex ways. The students with the aforementioned intellectual ability are often very observant and get excited about new ideas as well as enjoying hypothesizing. Learning very rapidly, these students use a large vocabulary and initiate many projects on their own. It is often observed that these students are unusually inquisitive (Renzulli 2009). Specific Academic Ability is a sub-set of the intellectual group of the gifted students. They demonstrate outstanding memorization ability, advanced comprehension, and high academic success in special interest area. These students acquire basic skill knowledge quickly and are typically widely read in special interest area while pursuing their special interests with enthusiasm and vigor (Renzulli 2009).
Students that show promise or talent in creativity are also among those admitted to gifted programs. Those creative students excel in independent thinking, and they often “exhibit original thinking in oral and written expression,” (NSGT 2009). The creative thinkers are capable of coming up with multiple solutions to a problem while maintaining a sense of humor. These gifted students enjoy inventing and being challenged by creative tasks as well as improvising to circumvent the conventional solution to the problem. A fortunate characteristic of some of these creative students is that they do “not mind being different from the crowd,” (NSGT 2009).
A more uncommon group of gifted students are those categorized as ones possessing great leadership capabilities. These individuals are quick to assume both a responsibility as well as high expectations for themselves and others. The gifted students said to be outstanding in leadership generally have very high charismas. They tend to be quite capable in foreseeing consequences and implications of their decisions which lead to good judgments. The leaders are very self-confident and organized (NSGT 2009).
On a very different trend of gifted and talented students, the psychomotor students exist. These students are those that “exhibit precision in movement” (Renzulli 2009), and are pleasantly challenged by difficult physical activities though they do enjoy a variety of the aforementioned activities. The psychomotor students do exceedingly well in many motor skills that require coordination. Additionally, they display “good manipulative skills… [and] high energy level,” (Renzulli 2009).
The last groups of gifted and talented students are encompassed by an artistic nature. They possess an uncanny ability to sense special relationships and can use that ability to express themselves, feelings, moods, etc. Similarly to the psychomotor students, the artistic ones can demonstrate exceptional motor coordination. As the name of this group grants, the individuals show very much expression in a creative manner in an attempt to make something original. The last generality made about this group is held in common with the students possessing a large amount of general intellectual ability, and that is that they are observant (NSGT 2009).
Schools across the country provide very different resources for gifted and talented students. The San Francisco school district, for example, only offers after school college courses for its Gifted and Talented Program instead of providing the gifted students with help inside the regular school hours (http://portal.sfusd.edu 2009). In New York City, however, the gifted students are being provided with treatment more characteristic of a special education department. They provide individualized services for the gifted students that forces even the brightest students to their capabilities (http://schools.nyc.gov 2009). In Wisconsin, however, there are large schools that provide no exceptional treatment for those lacking an appropriate education. “In Waterford, the high school just gave us the option of a few AP classes that were easy. There wasn’t any sort of program that really challenged us,” (Shea 2009). The disparity among large public schools in America is quite large and speaks to the necessity for positive change.
New studies are consistently being done over the subject of gifted and talented students. There is a current program by the name of Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program. This program’s description is as follows:
The purpose of this program is to carry out a coordinated program of scientifically based research, demonstration projects, innovative strategies, and similar activities designed to build and enhance the ability of elementary and secondary schools to meet the special education needs of gifted and talented students. The major emphasis of the program is on serving students traditionally underrepresented in gifted and talented programs, particularly economically disadvantaged, limited English proficient (LEP), and disabled students, to help reduce the serious gap in achievement among certain groups of students at the highest levels of achievement. (Javits 2009)
With work, this program will develop successful methods to educate the gifted students to their potential. It is also hopeful that they will train professionals to efficaciously teach many other such students. A program such as this one will provide the opportunity to test innovative techniques as well as assistance on how teachers can best serve the gifted students. It will also provide an example of coursework gifted students can be expected to complete. Gifted programs, as with every special education program have great potential to contribute to the growth of the world and human experience.
References
Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program (2008, August). Retrieved on September 28, 2009 from: http://www.ed.gov/programs/javits/index.html
Gifted and Talented Program. (2009, September). Retrieved on September 29, 2009 from: http://portal.sfusd.edu/template/default.cfm?page=chief_academic.gate
Gifted and Talanted. (2009, July). Retrieved on September 29, 2009 from: http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/GiftedandTalented/default.htm
What is Gifted? (November, 2008). Retrieved on September 28, 2009 from: http://www.nagc.org/
Renzulli, J. S. (1993). Retrieved on September 28, 2009 from: http://www.nsgt.org/resources/index.asp
Clifford Heyer
Ed. 226
Mr. Ramsey
Benedictine College
Gifted and Talented: Consistently Inconsistent
The amount of free time possessed by the interviewed Gifted and Talented students varies far more than most students. One respondent said, “I spend my day in a small classroom with twelve others. My parents make me to extra work, but that is acceptable because I’m going to become rich. I spend as much time as possible by myself. Emotions are annoying.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4b,c,j). Another respondent admitted, “I have a lot of free time because I get my work done faster than anyone else can. It gives me the free time to enjoy productive, complicated pastimes, like building and moding computers or writing cool programs.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1a,b,e). Another interviewed student claimed to have little free time saying, “I love making music and that love has led me to participate in many pastimes after school. It keeps me very busy.” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2a,b,c). The three very different students offer varying testaments to the time they have to themselves. A mother had these things to say about her son when asked about their free time, “My son likes to do things on his own. He jumps around to a lot of different hobbies, wanting to try everything he can. Driving him around to all his activities and attending all his events takes a lot of time. He’s very active in his school. I don’t spend much time helping him with his homework, but he does like me to look over what he’s done at night to see what I think.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3b,c,d,e,f,g,k).
The mother, while sounding fatigued, seemed very happy that her son was so busy. A teacher of Gifted and Talented students had this insight to offer, “I try to give my students a lot of freedom. I am trying a new method now where I devote an entire day to a subject and the students are free to work on and research whatever they like in that subject area. They really enjoy this method. It allows my students to work on stimulating in depth projects and difficult problems that require more time. They work harder and learn more when I let them study what they enjoy. They are also free to go to the library almost any time of the day.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5a,b,c,d,h). It seems that every one of these students greatly values any freedom, especially that of time, that they are given.
Many of the students love being gifted and bristle with pride when talking about it. There are those, however, who are of the opposite opinion. It may seem unusual that students would hate being gifted, but it must be realized that there are a wide range of opinions on being gifted, as there are with most of these students. One respondent said jokingly, “It’s a tough life at the top of Olympus.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1y). On a serious note, he continued, “I’m not sure if I have a chemical imbalance or what in my head that makes me the way I am, but I do feel like I have an obligation because I am quite religious. I want to use my gift for the betterment of humanity.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-04-09/1aa,ab,ac). The mother interviewed has this to say in regards to her perception of how she considered her son to feel about being gifted, “I think he loves it. He’s always bragging to me about being able to do more than other students. He likes being able to read more advanced material.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3x,y,z). Another respondent had this to say when questioned about his feelings on being gifted, “I love being gifted. I feel great about myself! I get to do a lot of fun school work that most other people don’t get to do.” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2n,o). When the teacher was asked what the students thought about being gifted, this explanation was given, “Most of my students love being gifted, but some of them do not. Some parents put an extreme amount of pressure on them because of their children’s extraordinary capabilities. A small number of my students would not care if they were gifted, average, or disabled. Those students think they could accept any lot in life happily.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5y,z,aa). Another respondent initially responded quite negatively when his feelings of being gifted were questioned, “I hate it. My parents make me do so much work, and people never leave me alone. But I love reading and I suppose with an average intellect, I would be incapable of enjoying the books that I do.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4k). The difference in these feelings is as extreme as any other and should be respected. Many assume that gifted individuals have it easier than others not burdened with an overabundance of intellect, but it should be kept in mind that it can be just that: an overwhelming burden.
Most of the interviews pointed towards financial impacts being very small compared to most other special education departments. One respondent had only this statement when asked about the financial impacts of being gifted, “While there are no financial impacts directly necessitated by my condition, my pastimes are expensive, and most people my age wouldn’t be able to do what I do.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1g,h). The mother interviewed had slightly more to say, “The government doesn’t seem to favor this department of special education. They don’t give us any extra money, so we have to pay for extra help to get my son to his potential. He has a special tutor come over some evenings, and I have to pay for him. His extra activities cost a lot more money, and I doubt he’d be able to do so many if he weren’t so talented. My son is always wanting me to buy him more books too. Books are expensive, and at the rate he goes through them, the money adds up quick.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3n,j,h,i). Two other respondents mentioned that their families had very little additional expenses from their conditions. The teacher seemed to be of the same opinion as the mother about the money Gifted and Talented programs received, “Gifted and Talented programs here don’t get much money from the state or government. It seems that I find myself constantly wishing I had more materials for my students. We require more books and materials than others to give my students the appropriate education that they deserve.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5e,g,f).
Of those interviewed, being gifted had differing effects in the relationships of the families, though pride from the parents seemed to be consistent. The teacher offered some generalities in the relationships of the families of her students and the impacts of giftedness on them, “The divorce rate in my classroom seems to be the same as any regular ed. classroom. The parents I talk to generally seem the same as most others with the same problems any other parents have. They generally seem proud of their children, though some give me nothing but grief saying that I don’t let their children reach their potential. The families social relationships could only be hindered or effected by activates the gifted children are in. It’s not that there are things the families can no longer do because of the gifted children, but the families are generally capable of doing more. In regards to the effects on siblings, from what I’ve seen and heard, the parents seem to have higher standards for their other children. Siblings of my students could be affected in many ways. For example, they could be drawn to work more, less, move at their own pace, anger, depression, or pride.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5r,s,t,w,x,p,q). A gifted student had this to say about his family, “My parents are really proud of me, and make me work a lot. My younger brother is three. He gets as much attention as me. My parents like our family to spend a lot of time together. I don’t. I’d greatly prefer to just be alone and read.” (CH/G&T/10-18-09/4h,g,i). The mother that was interviewed said, “His father and I divorced shortly after he was born, before his ability could have had any effect on our marriage, but his dad wasn’t ready for a son and ran halfway across the country. Look how good my son turned out with just me raising him! He has a half sister who was just born in Colorado. They haven’t met yet, but he wants to. I think his intellect helps him handle the situation better. It’s just me and my son, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3r,s,t). Another respondent said, “My parents love me and are really proud of me. They’re very close. I’m an only child, so there’s no effect to be had on my siblings. My mom said that she does not need to watch me as much because I’m so smart and mature!” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2l,k,j,e). The pride the child had of his family undeniably shone through his short and concise statements. One respondent, quite proud of his intellect, responded, “My parents are both proud, even though I can be really lazy at times. I think my giftedness brought them together. I am insurmountably talented at manipulating the emotions of my family. My relationship with my siblings is…interesting. I know better than them a lot of the time. I know that I’m right, they’re wrong, my way is better, but it’s hard, because I respect them, and don’t like showing them exactly why they’re being idiots, but…yeah. Sometimes I do anyway. I piss off my two older brothers a lot.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-4-09/1s,r,t,q,p).
Most of the respondents had little to say about their social relationships and friends. The teacher said, “I do have to keep an eye out for bullies at this age range, but most of my students manage to make a small number, usually one to three, of friends that are very close with each other.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5v). One respondent said, “My parents make us go do things with other families. I spend as much time as I can by myself. Emotions are annoying.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4j,i). The mother had this to say about hers and her son’s friends, “I have a couple friends at work and am friendly with a few of my son’s classmates’ parents, but that’s it. I don’t have much time outside of work and taking care of him and taking him to all his activities. He has a couple close friends though. He has them over on some weeknights and almost every weekend.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3u,v). Another respondent, when asked about his social relationships, only offered, “I sometimes get picked on in school.” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2m). Another respondent admitted, “It’s really hard to make real friends. It’s annoying to talk to people who have absolutely no grasp on what they’re talking about. I have no trouble forming superficial relationships and being friendly. I can associate with any social class perfectly fine. But I can only become true friends with those that I respect.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-04-09/1u,v,w,x).
When asked about the IEP process and the relationships with the special education professionals, the interviewees had far more to say about the professionals than the process itself. One respondent said, “My high school didn’t help the gifted and talented much. I just took an IQ test, it said I had an IQ of a hundred fifty-three. I talked with the advisors and teachers, and they just said to take advanced and AP classes. They were all way too easy, so I slept through them all and got all A’s. Man, life was easy then—waste of time easy.” (CH/BT/G&T/10-04-09/1l,m,n,o). Another respondent said, “I took some tests and my parents handled the rest. Now I get to go to a cool class with a nice teacher for part of the day. I can do almost anything there!” (CH/A1/G&T/10-8-09/2i,j,d). The mother spoke mostly of her child’s teachers, “They are pretty helpful and love working with my son. They seem really good at what they do, but the teachers only help my son for the first half of the day while they should be helping him the whole day. They do keep me posted on his progress. His teacher now gives me the impression of being both strict and laid back at the same time. I think that’s a really good trait.” (CH/A2/G&T/10-14-09/3m,o,l,p,q). Another respondent offered this insight on his teacher, “My teacher is highly intelligent and very competent. She respects me and helps me reach my limits.” (CH/A3/G&T/10-18-09/4e,f). The teacher interviewed seemed to enjoy the company and insight of her colleagues, “I have almost as many students as the regular ed. teachers. All my colleagues are very caring and brilliant. We get along very well and help each other out a lot. Before any of us try something new, we run it by each other to see if we can gain any advice for improvements for the methods.” (CH/A4/G&T/11-23-09/5i,m,l,j,k). Every Gifted and Talented student I’ve come into contact with has been drastically different. The only generalization that should be made is that generalizing anything about them is a bad idea.